Sonic the Hedgehog and the Metal Menace
by Master Tananh
Summary: The epic battle between Sonic and Metal Shadow has finally come. Sonic must find a way to defeat his greatest foe, and all the while Eggman is getting ever closer to Station Square, ready to unleash untold destruction on the unsuspecting city.
1. Beginning

>>>This is Master Tananh. Many of you older veterans will remember this story from a few years ago. Well, I'm re-writing it to make it better and I'm actually going to finish it. This is really more of a prologue and I assure you that later chapters will be a bit longer. I would also like to add that this takes place assuming the events in Sonic Heroes and any other installment after Sonic Adventure 2 never happened, since I wrote this before it came out. Read on. 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Sonic

Super Sonic got ready for his pass against the Final Hazard. He aimed for the weak spot and nailed him! "Shadow, take over! I gotta get some more rings!" I cried. Shadow agreed. As I gathered my share of the rings, I watched Shadow. It was incredible how someone I just got done beating up was now fighting beside me to undo what he had done. He was really starting to grow on me.

"Yes!" I cried. Shadow had nailed the Biohazard and it had died.

Then I realized something. The ARK was still falling towards Earth! We weren't going to make it. There was only one way, Chaos Control. But Shadow didn't have time to gather more rings! I couldn't do this by myself! If we did it now, Shadow would surely perish. If we waited for him to get more rings, the Earth would be destroyed.

"Sonic! Get over here! We need to use Chaos Control!" He knew. He knew that he would die because of this decision. I just did as I was told. I didn't need to argue. He wouldn't change his mind.

Together, side-by-side, we used Chaos Control. As we were performing the move, I looked at Shadow. I would never see him again. It was strange that I cared so much for this guy. I guess I just have a heart of gold.

"Chaos Control!"

The feeling was ecstatic! A bright flash of light and we were OUT of there! That brief moment between dimensions. You feel a huge rush of power. It makes me really hyper when I do it. I wondered how Shadow stayed so calm after doing this. Maybe it wears off after doing it a while. I would ask Shadow about it later. Then I realized what I was thinking. That brought me crashing back down to reality.

"Shadow! Come on!" I screamed as soon as we were out. We raced for the open docking bay. I would make it. Shadow would not. But there was still hope. Almost there! Almost there!

"Sonic, take this to remember me by!" He threw me his fire bracelet. He sounded sad. Like he was afraid he would be forgotten. "You're going to make it!" I cried. But he didn't.

It happened suddenly. His silver and white turned back into the normal black and red. He stopped flying. He started falling. "Noooooooo!" I cried. If I dived down to save him, I wouldn't make it either. So I flew on. Not able to look at my falling friend.

I was no longer in my Super form. I walked slowly to the research facility where everyone was. I wasn't in any big hurry. They would ask where Shadow was, and I would have to tell them what had happened. How I had just left him to die. Finally, I opened the door, and there they were. "Sonic, where is Shadow?" Rouge asked. Suddenly, I found I couldn't relive that brief minute. I just shook my head and gave her the fire bracelet.

Soon afterward, we all left. I was the last one out. I looked back through the window at Earth. "Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog." I whispered silently.

Eggman

I was furious that my plan had backfired. Curse my grandfather! Curse him! It couldn't have turned out worse. Rouge had turned out to be a spy, Shadow turned on me and then he died before I could persuade him otherwise!

Wait a minute. "Shadow!" I exclaimed ecstatically.

"Hahahahaha!" I laughed as I entered my shuttle back to Earth. This would be the one. This was the plan that would finally defeat that blue fool! I couldn't believe my genius.

Instead of going directly to Earth like the others, I took a little detour. I started looking outside the ARK's mini atmosphere. I looked for hours when I finally found him. He wasn't dead as everyone had suspected. He was using his boots to fly back to the ARK.

Perhaps old Gerald did something right after all. When I saw that Final Hazard was surviving in space, I knew that Shadow would probably be able to survive also. Final Hazard was, after all, a prototype. Shadow was the real thing.

I opened the docking bay doors and scooped him in. I set the ship on autopilot as I ran down the ship to the docking bay. He was standing up in the usual way he did that made you feel like you were inferior to him. When he saw me, he opened his mouth. He was probably going to thank me, but right then I hit a button that made a hidden gun attached to the wall shoot a tranquilizer dart in him.

Back at the lab, I worked for weeks on him. Finally, I was finished. "It looks like Sonic has finally met his match!" I shouted triumphantly to myself.

>>>This is Master Tananh. I know that this didn't really have much that you didn't already know aside from the new Shadow survival story. This was really just a prologue. It's going to get a lot crazier next chapter. Please review and tell me how awesome it was. 


	2. Home Invasion

>>>This is Master Tananh. This chapter you will find out what Eggman did with Shadow. I have also added a short little boss battle for Tails before the main bad guy shows up. Read on. 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Chapter 2: Home Invasion

I flew through the sky. The leader of the pack. My name is… Well, I don't have a name. Names are not important. Just purposes. My purpose was to serve my master. My master had mutated many animals into machines to do his will. We were all flying through the sky. Heading toward our location.

My master has ordered me to take command of an attack against this house. We were to destroy it and anyone who would get in our way. I will not fail him. No one can stop me.

We landed surrounding the house. It was a common two story house. I waved my hand signaling the first group. They were to enter the house and take out anyone and anything inside. The second wave was to destroy the house after the interior was taken out.

Sonic

I sat in my room upstairs laughing at Tails' joke. It was kind of lame, but I laughed anyway just to make him feel good. It had been nearly two months since Shadow's fall. I thought about it often nowadays, reliving that moment when he fell and I didn't bother to save him. It haunted me to this day and I knew it always would.. Suddenly, Tails' ears perked up. "Did you hear that?" he asked. I shook my head and listened hard.

I heard some crashing noises downstairs. Like someone was ransacking the house.

"Let's check it out!" I said. We ran downstairs and saw it. All kinds of robot freaks tearing up my living room! This was unusual since I'm usually the one going to Eggman's crib to tear his place up. Talk about a role reversal.

"What do you guys think you're doing?" I screamed, "Let's get em Tails!" It didn't take long to take them out. A couple of kicks here, a few homing attacks there and presto! A bunch of innocent little animals standing in the middle of a bunch of metal and gizmos.

Something was wrong. It was taking to long! I flew into the house.

There was a blue hedgehog and a deformed fox standing among my master's now freed slaves. It was time for Plan B. Personally destroy them.

Sonic

I looked at this new threat. He had silver plating all over his body. His fingers ended in holes. He also had glowing red eyes. It reminded me of someone.

Shadow! It could be no one else! Eggman must have mutated him into one of his slaves! Then he must be alive under there! Of course I had a feeling this wasn't going to be easy.

"Metal Shadow" looked pretty peeved. "Shadow? Is it you?" Tails asked. Metal Shadow looked at him. He pointed a finger at Tails. A rocket emerged from one of the holes. "Tails watch out!" I cried.

SHOOM! KABOOM!

Tails had jumped out of the way just in time. I looked through the hole in my wall. My eyes widened. There were about twenty robots out there, two of which looked pretty nasty. I looked at Metal Shadow. He waved his hand and the army sprang to life.

We were suddenly under fire! My house was being ripped to pieces. "Tails! Take out that army before there's nothing left!" Tails flew out of the hole without question. I hated asking him to do stuff by himself. I hoped he'd be all right. Unfortunately, the army was attacking above the hole so I couldn't see how he was doing. I looked over to Metal Shadow. "All right," I said, "let's do this!"

He leaped toward me. I jumped. He turned around and shot a few rockets. I dodged them pretty easily. I tried a homing attack on him, but right before impact I found myself flying the opposite direction. I landed on my back. "What the-" I said as I got back up. I looked up.

Metal Shadow was standing there with some kind of energy shield surrounding him. This is going to be harder than I thought. I hit him with everything in my arsenal. It just bounced off.

Finally, he moved. Up until now he had just stood there letting me attack. He kicked me right in the jaw. I hadn't expected it and I landed on my back. He knocked me all over the place. Every time I tried to get up or counterattack he would just knock me down again. I knew I had to get out of here. I started to get up again for an escape, or at least so we could fight outside where I had room to maneuver when suddenly everything went dark.

Metal Shadow

The hedgehog was no longer a threat. I had knocked him out cold. I was to destroy anyone who got in the way. He was no longer in the way. I focused now on the deformed fox. He was apparently using his tails to fly. He is destroying my master's fleet. He is endangering the mission. He must be destroyed.

Tails

I tore another robot to pieces. I was confused. Why was Eggman attacking Sonic's house? How did Shadow survive? And how did Eggman get a hold of him? I didn't want to ask questions right then, though. I just did what Sonic asked me. Kick some robot butt!

I looked at the two robots who seemed to be the leaders. They were humanoid shaped and had long plasma swords protruding out of one hand and a machine gun for the other. This was going to be tough.

I raced up toward them, swerving left to right to avoid the incoming bullets. I got to the first one but stopped short and looped under him, dodging a horizontal swipe from his sword. I performed a Homing Attack on his head and backed away a little to dodge its next sword swipe. Suddenly it charged at me slashing madly, forcing me to back away to keep from getting sliced into tiny pieces.

I heard jets behind me and I cursed myself for allowing it to maneuver me into such a vulnerable position. I turned around completely to face the other humanoid robot who had sneaked up behind me. I put on a burst of speed which surprised it as it was apparently going to use its machine guns and didn't have its sword in a defensive position.

I hit it hard and did a tricky little judo move that threw him into it's still-slashing companion. I smirked as they both impaled each other on their swords. Oldest trick in the book.

I looked at the house. Metal Shadow flew out of the hole using built-in jets in his shoes. He was heading straight for me! Where was Sonic? Was he… No! He's fine! But how am I supposed to beat this guy?

He called off what was left of the army, which was only about four little minions. He apparently wanted to deal with me himself. I saw he had a shield surrounding him. This was a problem. But I had an advantage Sonic didn't. Sonic probably got beat because of that shield and because he didn't have room to maneuver. I did.

I tried all my attacks on him, but everything just bounced off. I thought of escaping, but Sonic is still in that house! I couldn't just leave him! All I can do now is dodge whatever he threw at me and look for a weakness.

"All right! Come and get me!" I taunted. Though I didn't really feel as brave as I sounded.

Metal Shadow

The fox taunted me. He was trying to be brave. Though he looked confident, my sensors indicated his heart was racing. He wanted me to attack him? He would regret it.

I quickly rolled up into a ball and shot at him. He obviously wasn't expecting this because I plowed right into him. I stayed in a ball and came around for another pass, but he dodged it. I tried a few more times but he now knew what was coming. I uncurled.

What to do next? Rockets wouldn't do much. They seem to be able to dodge those. I have many moves that could probably get the job done, but I want this done fast. I prepared for my most advanced move. My master said this was a dangerous move for me to do and he said there might be a few side effects.

All of my power was being converted into my hands. My shield lowered and everything was shut off for a brief second.

**Where am I? Why am I surrounded by metal? Who has done this to me, the ultimate life form, Shadow? I will find out**.

Suddenly I was back. My master said there would be side effects, but I didn't expect what had happened. Oh well. It had worked. In my hands was a little ball of energy. This would take care of him.

Tails

What happened? One second he was just hovering there, cupping his hands. The next he seemed to totally shut down. His eyes had stopped glowing, his shield went down and his jets turned off for just a second. Now he was hovering as before. What was he planning? I saw the energy ball in his hands. I prepared to dodge as he moved to launch it.

"Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!" I screamed. The pain was intolerable. Had he already launched the energy ball? All I could do was wonder what had happened as I passed out ten stories above the ground.

>>>This is Master Tananh. How will Sonic defeat Metal Shadow? Will Tails survive the five story drop to the ground? Find out next time. Knuckles will join the plot next chapter. And Rouge will be thrown into the fray eventually. Please review and tell me how awesome it was. 


	3. Knuckles vs Metal Shadow

>>>This is Master Tananh. As the title suggests, Knuckles will have a go at Metal Shadow. Will he succeed where others have failed? And what about Tails? Will he survive the ten story drop to the ground? Read on. 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Chapter 3: Knuckles vs. Metal Shadow

I stood watching the chaos on the next door neighbor's roof. Tails was doing a good job fighting off those robots. But where was Sonic? It wasn't like him to just let Tails take over. I looked over to the house and I saw the one I had came for.

Metal Shadow. I had figured Eggman would have sent him over here. Should I help Tails? No. I won't do anything. I couldn't even get up there if I wanted to. I would just have to watch.

The fight seemed to be tipped in Metal Shadow's favor. Everything Tails tried bounced off of that energy shield Metal Shadow had. It didn't look good for Tails. Then for a moment, Metal Shadow's guard dropped. His shield was down! Unfortunately it only lasted for a moment. Metal Shadow was now holding some kind of energy ball. In a flash of movement that I almost couldn't see, he launched it at Tails.

It hit Tails hard. He was unconscious! He was falling! No way he would survive that fall! I had to save him. I would have to time this perfectly. I leaped from the house I was standing on and glided. Got to hurry! "Gotcha!" I said as I caught Tails in mid-air. I dropped to the ground with Tails in my arms.

I felt his pulse. Alive. But his arm was vibrating with electricity. He would be fine. But now I had bigger problems to worry about. Metal Shadow had spotted me. He waved his hand and all of the robots flew away. This was a problem. I had come here to fight him, but now I felt that I would be fighting a battle I could not hope to win. But then I shook those thoughts away as Metal Shadow landed. If he wanted to fight Knuckles, the guardian of the Master Emerald, then he was going to get more than he bargained for.

Metal Shadow

I looked at this new threat. How many guardians were there? This must be a very important place. Maybe a temple of some sort. I hovered down to the ground. But I had seen this strange looking echidna before. He had lashed out at me like those last two.  
But this time he seemed wiser. He didn't blindly attack me like last time, he just stood there waiting for me to attack. I fired multiple rockets, but like the others, he dodged them easily. So I ran at him top speed. But right before I could punch, he disappeared underground, making me swipe at midair.

He resurfaced and blocked my welcoming kick. He backflipped up onto a neighboring house and started climbing up! I waited to see what his was doing. When he reached the roof, he glided above me somehow. What was he…

He startled me. One moment he had been gliding above me, and the next he was flying towards me at high speeds. Now he is on top of my shield. He was cutting through my shield using the momentum he had gained from the fall! Before I could react, he cut through my shield and smashed into the top of my head.

This was definitely a formidable opponent. Running a quick systems check, I discovered I had received only minimal damage, and my shield was still online. I would have to use my ultimate attack on this one. I cupped my hands. I started converting all my power to my hands. Wait. He's charging at me! Cancel the attack! Cancel the attack! But it was too late. My power was off, and so was my shield.

Not again! Where am I now? Who is that? I have seen him before… Knuckles! That was his name! But what was he doing?

BAM!

I recoiled from both his attack and from the other side effect. I knew this echidna personally! Or did I? I rubbed my head. His sharp claws had gone right into my metal and even penetrated into my inner layer. I was bleeding a bit. In the confusion I had dropped the energy ball. I will never try that move on this "Knuckles" again.

It was time to try some different tactics.

Knuckles

Well this was turning out nice. I think I felt some skin down when I hit him. So he is still alive under there. Well, he'll have to use it again sometime. Wait, what is he doing now?

Oh. He was curling up in a ball again. I saw him do this in his fight with Tails. No big deal. He flew at me faster than I expected, but I managed to jump out of the way. I turned around, bracing myself to dodge his next pass, but I saw noone. "Where did he go?" I asked myself out loud.

POW!  
Something hit me from below! I landed on my back. Not a good situation to be in. Shadow Ball suddenly bashed into my stomach! He slammed into me so hard we made a small little hole in the ground!

It came around for another pass. What had happened? I looked at where I had been standing and I understood. There was a hole where I had been standing. He had gone underground!

BAM!

"Ack!" I screamed. While I had been thinking Metal Shadow came back and nailed me in the face! "Ouch!" I screamed as he smashed into my back and knocked me down. He hit me three more times before I could get up. He sped at me again. I dodged, this time keeping my eye on the Shadow Ball.

It went underground again. I acted fast. I only had a short amount of time. I leaped as quickly as I could. Almost there… made it! I was hanging onto what was left of Sonic's wall waiting for Metal Shadow to emerge again. He emerged close to my position and tried to nail me on the wall, but I jumped off right before he could touch me. He uncurled. He seemed to realize that wasn't going to work any more.

He flew up into the sky way higher than I could reach. Now what? Then I saw what he was about to do. He was cupping his hands and shutting down. The coward! The only choice I had was to run. Running as fast as I could into a neighboring house, I looked behind me to see Metal Shadow cupping his hands and powering down temporarily.

There was apparently no one home or I would have heard a few screams. I mean let's face it. If I was a human and I saw a five foot tall red echidna running through my house, I would scream bloody murder.

Inside I looked out the window. He had lost me. He didn't seem to care much though. Apparently I wasn't his main concern right then. He threw the energy ball at the house! It caused a huge explosion that destroyed a big chunk of his wall. Before I could go outside and continue our little fight. He started unleashing loads of rockets on Sonic's house until there was nothing but a smoldering wreck.

After he leveled the house, he flew away. I walked out of the house and looked at the mess. What was that all about? Suddenly, Tails ran toward me. He looked very scared. "Tails! I'm glad your ok!" I said. "Knuckles! What has he done? What has he done? It wasn't supposed to end this way! Why did this have to happen?" Tails cried.

"Tails what's the matter?"

Tails looked at me sadly. "Didn't you know? Sonic was in there!"

>>>This is Master Tananh. I hope you enjoyed it. Looks like Sonic got roasted. This is not good. How will everyone continue on without the famous blue hedgehog? Is he even really dead? Find out next time. Please review and tell me how awesome it was. 


	4. The Plot Thickens

>>>>This is Master Tananh. How will the others carry on without Sonic? Read on. 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Chapter 4: The Plot Thickens

Knuckles

After Metal Shadow leveled the house, he flew away. I walked out of the next-door neighbor's and looked at the mess. What was that all about? Suddenly, Tails ran toward me. He looked very scared. "Tails! I'm glad your ok!" I said. "Knuckles! What has he done? What has he done? It wasn't supposed to end this way! Why did this have to happen?" Tails cried hysterically.

"Tails what's the matter?"

Tails looked at me sadly. "Didn't you know? Sonic was in there!"

I reeled back like he had hit me. Sonic? Dead? I never really had exactly hung out with him because of my duties to the Master Emerald, but we had been through a lot of adventures and it felt hard to lose a comrade.

I looked at Tails. He was fighting back tears. "I'm sorry Tails. I know he meant a lot to you. This wasn't supposed to happen. I thought I could beat him! But he won. Sonic is dead."

I bowed my head in shame.

"Oh come on!" a familiar cocky voice said. "Don't you have any faith in me?"

We looked behind us hopefully. "Sonic!" Tails exclaimed. "That's my name." The blue hedgehog replied. Tails ran over and gave Sonic a hug, which was an extremely unusual thing for Tails to do. I sighed. "I knew it was to good to be true."

"Hey!" Sonic exclaimed. I grinned. He was alive.

"How did you survive?" Tails asked. Sonic looked at him. "Well, after he knocked me out cold, some huge explosion that took out my wall woke me up." I nodded. "Must have been the Energy Ball attack that he tried to hit me with." Sonic shrugged. "Probably was. Anyway, when I heard that, I knew I had to get OUT of there! I ran out right before the first rocket hit."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Sonic asked me. My expression hardened. "Revenge. Metal Sonic stole my Master Emerald. I figured Eggman would send Metal Shadow over here to kill you, so I ran over as fast as he could." I replied. Sonic looked confused.  
FLASHBACK!

Knuckles laid back. He was on Angel Island as usual. It was another ordinary day guarding the Master emerald. But Knuckles heard something. He leaped out of the way just as where he was standing was bombarded with rockets. "That was close." Knuckles said. He looked up.

Shadow? How could he be alive? It looked like he had been mutated into some kind of robot. I would have to be some kind of an idiot not to know who did this. I could recognize Eggman's handy work. And if I remembered right, after you defeat the robot, the mutated animal or what ever would fall from the exploding metal alive and well. I guess I'll just have to free him.

I leaped up and punched as hard as I could but found myself being thrown into the opposite direction. I landed on my back and looked at him when I noticed his eyes. His red eyes began to glow brighter and brighter. Then a laser shot out of his eyes and hit me in the shoulder before I could do anything. "Ahh!" I shouted in surprise as I tried grabbed my sizzling shoulder. He shot toward the Emerald while I was recoiling in shock.

"Nooo!" I shouted as he flew away with the Emerald in tow. I tried to catch him as the Island began to fall. But I could only glide; he could fly. I could only watch in despair as he flew away with my emerald while the Island was falling toward the ocean.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Why would Eggman want your Master Emerald? You don't think-" I nodded. "The only reason I can think of is he doesn't want the Master Emerald to stop the Chaos Emeralds from doing something." Sonic frowned. "What would Eggman want with the Chaos Emeralds? You don't think he wants to make a Super Metal Shadow do you?" "Uh," Tails interrupted, "You can't use the Chaos Emeralds on a machine without hooking them directly to the machine. You would have to actually hook up the Emeralds to the machine and even then the robot would have to be the size of a skyscraper if you wanted to use all seven."

I'm sure he was trying to help but that sure didn't make me feel better. There was a long silence. "Well I guess we better see if there are any Emeralds left to find." Sonic said. "And how are we going to find that out?" I asked. "The government would know if a robot freak was stealing all their gems!" Sonic replied. "But who do we know that works for the-"

Oh no. Not her.

Eggman

I laughed maniacally. Finally Sonic had died! I had been watching through my satellite. Content with the rubble, I turned off the screen. This Metal Shadow idea was great! And now Sonic won't get in the way when my real plan is set into motion.

That red echidna and the fox boy would try to stop me but they can only do so much. "Dr. Eggman." A computer voice said. "Yes?" I asked. "Metal Shadow is here." It replied. "Send him in." Eggman ordered.  
A few seconds later, Metal Shadow stood before me. "Did you carry out the mission successfully?" Metal Shadow nodded. I hadn't given him a voice. It annoys me when robots have one. They usually argue and give me suggestions on what to do! This way they just shut up and do what they're told, but with Metal Shadow he just makes you feel like you're inferior to him like the real Shadow does. You can't fix everything I suppose.

"Well, it looks like you had an injury. Go back in your pod and you'll be repaired soon enough. We can't have you damaged for your next mission can we?" Metal Shadow just shook his head and left.

I took the elevator down into the basement. I approached the door to the Maximum Security Room. I scanned all three access cards, put in all five pass codes, and I scanned my fingerprint, handprint, voice, and even my eyes. After I got through the security. I entered.

The ARK had given me an idea. I could use the seven Chaos Emeralds to charge up a machine with huge power capabilities just like the ARK! My grandfather's plan would have worked if it hadn't been for that stupid Master Emerald! But my plan will be full proof! Since I have the Emerald in my possession, Goliath would be unstoppable!

I looked at my creation which I had code named Goliath. It was about the size of a skyscraper. It was human-shaped with a few differences. It's right arm ended in a large plasma cannon and around the outside of it were machine guns that could move independently.. It's left arm ended in a sharp point. When the point opened up it fired a similar but less powerful beam like the Eclipse Cannon. Although it couldn't destroy an entire planet, it could still do some damage. The one real reason it doesn't look entirely like a human is because it didn't have a head. The control area was inside the chest. On the shoulders were large high powered motion-sensitive guns that would destroy anything that got within range of the cockpit. And all along the stomach area were little guns that shot out lasers that cut everything it touches in half. Inside the stomach was the core, while along the ankles were smaller guns that could shoot down people on the ground. Then there was also a little surprise in the inner workings I had thought up in the unlikely event that Goliath was damaged. This plan would be full proof.

I laughed with anticipation. Soon Metal Shadow will find me the rest of the Emeralds and I will rule the world!

Sonic

We rang the doorbell to Rouge's house. It wasn't too shabby. Knuckles wasn't looking too happy about us coming here. I guess he was still mad at her about trying to steal the Master Emerald.

The door opened. "Well what do you know?" Rouge said in surprise, "My old ARK buddies!" She winked at Knuckles. "Couldn't get enough of me could you?" Knuckles looked at me with a look that said _I told you this was a stupid idea_. "We're actually here on business Rouge." I said.

"Business? What do you mean?" Rouge asked a little more seriously. "Well, it turns out that Shadow didn't die on his fall from the ARK."  
That made her drop her flirting talk. She got a little serious. "What do you mean?" she asked. "Uh, can we come in?" Inside her house, we told her everything we knew. She seemed surprised by this plot. "So what do you want with me?" She asked.

Knuckles spoke up. "We need to know if any Chaos Emeralds have been stolen or if some psycho robot attacked lately. We have to be sure Eggman is planning this." Rouge smiled carelessly. "Well I could tell you that without even looking in the computer files. It's all over the news. There's been five reported sightings."

"Five?" I shouted. This was worse than we thought. Eggman only has two more to go! "We have to find an Emerald. That way we can Eggman will have to confront us before he can have all seven!" Knuckles said. It was a good plan.

Rouge looked a little uncomfortable. "There's a slight problem with your plan. The locations of the Emeralds are top secret. Even I don't know where they are." We thought this over for a moment. Tails perked up. "I bet I could hack into the system and find out!" "Yeah! Tails can do it!" I said excitedly.

Rouge looked skeptical. "My government has some of the highest cyber security in the world. It would take a genius to hack through it. I could understand Eggman breaking through, but a child?" I smiled. "He's like a child prodigy or something. He could do it." Rouge still looked doubtful. "Ok. I'll get you in as far as I can, but you'll be on your own from there."

Rouge got on her computer and started typing away. "Ok. I've got in as far as possible with my clearance. It's up to you now fox boy." Tails smiled confidently. "Just stand back and watch." he said. I'll tell you that kid is scary on those computers! Those windows were almost popping on and off faster than I run! Rouge looked impressed too. I think Knuckles was getting dizzy or something because he looked away.

"Here we are!" Tails said. We looked a little closer at the screen. It was a map of the world. There were seven pictures of Chaos Emeralds on the globe. One was in Australia somewhere, another was on the sea near the Bahamas, and the other five were all in a desert in the Sahara.

"Well I think we know where Eggman's base is!" I said. "How would the government know where the seven Chaos Emeralds are?" Knuckles asked. "GUN has some kind of satellite up in space that can spot the energy given off by the Chaos Emeralds." Tails explained, "They know where his base is, but it says they have to be very careful in attacking him because they know about Eggman's knowledge about these little things called weapons and bombs and so on and so forth."

"So," I began, "They know where he is, but they're afraid of getting killed if they attack." Tails smiled. "Exactly!" "Is the Master Emerald there too?" Knuckles asked. Tails nodded. "Then that's where I'm going!" he replied. I sighed. Why wasn't I surprised.

I looked at the Chaos Emerald in the ocean. "Is this one underwater?" I asked. Tails looked at me. "No, that one's being smuggled into the States along with some other jewels." I looked at him. "Smuggled?" "Yeah, by some terrorist named Nick Sykes." Tails said, "He seems to be smuggling advanced robot warriors and jewels." "Robot Warriors?" I asked. "Yeah, he stole them off of Eggman." Tails replied.

I raised my eyebrows. "Stealing from Eggman and getting away with it? He must be pretty good." I said. "He escaped from a mental institution three years ago and has been wanted ever since." Rouge replied. I nodded.

"I think I ought to pay a visit to this Nick Sykes."

>>>>This is Master Tananh. Will Sonic be able to defeat Nick Sykes and get the Chaos Emerald? And what about Knuckles and the Master Emerald? You'll find out next chapter. Now please review and tell me how awesome it was. 


	5. Emerald Problems

This is Master Tananh. Sorry I took such a long break. Let's just say your junior year in high school is not fun. This chapter is about Sonic invading Sykes and Knuckles trying to get the Master Emerald back. I have added a boss fight with Knuckles and I have greatly extended Sonic's fight with Nick Sykes. Read on.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Chapter 5: Emerald Problems

Sonic

We were flying toward Nick Sykes' boat. I was in a jet with Rogue. The plan was for her to get low enough for me to eject out of the jet and onto the boat. It was one of those deals where the co-pilot was in the back and the pilot in the front. Then I would find the Chaos Emerald and warp out of there. We figured that Metal Shadow would go for the one in Australia first since it wasn't as well guarded as this one was. I only hope we're right.

Knuckles and Tails were on their way in the Tornado to Eggman's base. Knuckles was to try to steal the Chaos Emeralds and, more importantly, (to Knuckles) the Master Emerald.

"Whoa!" Rouge commented. "Whoa." I agreed. We were looking at Nick Sykes' boat. You could've fit the Alamo on that thing! And Nick Sykes had taken advantage of this. He had filled the entire deck with nasty little robots, guns, and…

anti-air equipment. "Get us out of here now!" I shouted.

Nick Sykes

I sat in the control room of my "fortress", as I called it. Suddenly, an alarm went off. "Alert! Military jet approaching! Alert! Military jet approaching!" The computer went on and on.

I turned on the camera to find a single military jet approaching. "I'm insulted!" I said to no one. "You'd think they'd at least send an entire fleet in to get me! Maybe it's just heading to the Bahamas for some reason." Well, I needed a little action anyway. I smiled. "Shoot it down!" I ordered the computer.

Sonic

I didn't even see the shot. All I knew was our engines were on fire. "We're going down!" Rouge shouted. "Pilot eject system not responding!" She looked back at me. "But the co-pilot eject is fine." I widened my eyes. "No way! I'm not leaving you here to crash and burn!" Rouge smiled at me sadly. "Sorry flyboy, but you can do more damage out there then me anyway. Go get em!"

And before I could do anything about it, she flew me out of there. Lucky for me, I landed on the boat safely. It was kind of hard to miss. Rouge's jet hit the boat also. The explosion was deafening. "Noooooooooooooooooo!" I cried. Then a rage filled up in me that I didn't recognize. Nick Sykes was going to pay.

Nick Sykes

I danced with joy. A direct hit! Sure it hit the fortress, but it needed redecorated anyway. "The co-pilot bailed sir. He might be alive," my robot friend informed me. "Is that so?" I said, "Suit me up! I'll take this one personally." I could barely contain my excitement. I hadn't killed anybody personally for about a month now. I was overdue.

Knuckles

Tails landed the Tornado and I got out. "Eggman's base is about 5 miles from here. I can't risk getting any closer without being seen, so this is about as close as I can get you." I could tell Tails hated the idea of just sitting here while I did all the other work. If I asked, he would come. But I had to sneak in without being seen, and that was something that's better for one person to do.

As I set off, Tails called me back. I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry Tails, but you can't come," I said. Tails looked embarrassed. "It's not that. I just figured you might want this." Tails held out a walkie-talkie. "This way if you get into any trouble, you could call me!" I doubted he could do anything if I got in trouble, but I took it anyway to make him feel better.

After I thanked him, I took off. I could run pretty fast. I can't match Sonic's speed, but I can really move when I want to. I got there in about 5 minutes. After carefully sneaking by all the guards and security cameras. I reached the elevator. According to my senses, the Master Emerald was way underground. I hit the button that should lead me to the bottom floor.

After a long elevator ride down I found a very cramped but empty room with a ultra high security door that took up most of the wall. I knew that the Emeralds were in there, but how could I get in? I heard a noise above me

I looked up quickly to see some kind of strange spider-like robot. It had eight jointed legs that were sticking to the ceiling, and in the center was a large sphere. The legs were all attached on the bottom side. The top had about five guns, laser emitters by the looks of them, all of which were pointed at me.

"Uh oh."

I leapt backwards right as the spot where I had been standing was covered with lasers. The lasers began moving all over the room while I began to do all kinds of acrobatic maneuvers to avoid them. I leapt onto the wall and then jumped up to the ceiling, out of range of the lasers. I crawled towards the spider thing but it crawled quickly out of the way.

It moved jerkily, stopping suddenly. Before I knew it, it was moving again right towards me. It kicked me with three of it's legs, knocking me onto the ceiling into the laser filled floor below. I twisted my body quickly to avoid a laser and landed in a jumping position, hopping all over the place until I managed to get onto the ceiling again.

I felt my face and discovered three cuts. Those legs were very sharp. What now? The thing's movements were very unpredictable, keeping me from knowing what it would do next. Well, two can play at that game. I crawled quickly towards the thing but then switched direction to the left as fast as I could . I continued to zigzag all over the place. It seemed to be working. The thing made a few uncertain movements, but for the most part stayed where it was, trying to figure out what I was doing.

I got a little closer to it and turned sharply so that I was heading right for it. Right before I approached it I let go of the ceiling with my legs and swung right into the robot, kicking it hard. It recoiled, and I did a sort of upside down somersault and leaped towards it again and glided a little to stay in the air. I twisted around as I flew under it and punched as hard as I could at the center, ripping off the laser emitters as I went into a free fall back down to the ground.

I looked up and smirked, only to have the smile wiped off my face as it released itself from the ceiling. It turned around, and moved it's legs wildly, hoping to slice me to pieces when it landed on me, but I was too quick. I hopped out of the way just in time.

It landed rather awkwardly on it's sphere. Then the legs began to move to the center of the ball pointing straight so that they made a circle around it. I groaned as the ball began spinning very quickly and spun towards me. I quickly dug underground and felt it sail past me. I jumped back up and faced the new threat.

I ran towards it as it charged and jumped cleanly over it and kept going. I leapt at the wall and did a Wall Jump springing over the enemy, I grinned.

One Drill Claw later and it was nothing but rubble. I sighed with a combination of exhaustion and relief. That had been a tough one. It was a miracle no alarm had been set off. There were no cameras in this room, clearly Eggman didn't want anyone to know it was there. Then I heard something that put me on the alert again.

The elevator was going up. Someone was coming.

Eggman

I stood in my control room. Everything was going smoothly. Suddenly, a flash of green light appeared and Metal Shadow was standing before me with the sixth Chaos Emerald. Ha ha ha ha! Great work! Hand it to me."  
Metal Shadow handed me the red Emerald. "The last one is being smuggled out of the Bahamas. By an old friend of mine; Nick Sykes I believe. I have a warp pad ready for you. It should take you pretty close to him. Your primary objective is to retrieve the Chaos Emerald, but make sure you destroy that stupid boat of his! It's very annoying!" Metal Shadow nodded and walked off to complete his mission.

While Metal Shadow was fulfilling his duties, I decided to install this Chaos Emerald into Goliath. I took the elevator down into the ultra high security door room. After taking about ten minutes of going through the security measures, the door opened.

Knuckles

Eggman hadn't noticed me. I had attached myself to the ceiling while holding what remained of the robot in my hands so Eggman wouldn't notice them. He just walked past me and opened the door. Too easy. I sneaked in after quietly putting the rubble on the floor. I waited for the moment to charge Eggman. It would be good to take him down before anything else happened.

But as I looked up I was distracted. Inside the room I saw a huge machine. It must have been the size of a skyscraper! It was as we had feared. The armored plating wasn't on it though. It was opened to reveal the complicated mechanics of the machine. Revealing five Chaos Emeralds and two other empty slots in the mass of wires and metal. It seemed to Knuckles like the machine was separated into seven separate pieces. One for each Emerald, but he wasn't sure. Knuckles wasn't very good with machines.

"Well Goliath," Eggman said, "One more to go! Then you'll be complete!" Goliath? Must be the machine's name or something.

After about another twenty-five minutes Eggman had connected the Emerald to "Goliath". He stood there marveling at his creation as I hoped that Sonic wasn't too late.

Sonic

I slashed through another robot. I had been at it for about an hour. Fueled by rage, I kept on. I was still on the deck. Then I saw him.

I knew it was him somehow. Standing before me was Nick Sykes in some kind of robot suit. It enhanced his power, but he wouldn't last against me. No one kills my friends and gets away with it!

Nick Sykes

I looked at this new foe. "You are Sonic the Hedgehog are you not?" I asked. He didn't say anything. He just glared at me. "Not a very cheery fellow are you? Well, since you've been such a bad boy, this year old Saint Nick will give you a different kind of present. I don't think you'll like it either!"  
I laughed maniacally as I charged toward him. How thrilling! I would kill Sonic the Hedgehog! Before I made contact he jumped, but not far enough that my top arms wouldn't reach him! They smashed him clear over to near the edge of the boat. I chased after him gleefully.

Sonic

I got up painfully. That was stupid of me to lash out like that I began to get a grip on myself. The blind rage began to subside, but by no means was I my usual cheery self again.

I looked at Sykes as he ran towards me. His suit made him about seven feet, with six gigantic arms, three on each side. His back, however, seemed to be unprotected. A good Homing Attack back there and he would be sprawling on the floor defenseless. After that, well I didn't know what I would do. I went into a defensive stance as he charged me, laughing gleefully.

I jumped over his lower arm and was smashed by the middle, but I clung to it desperately, refusing to let go. He shook furiously until I let go, flying behind him. I smiled grimly as I smashed him with a Homing Attack. He turned around quickly and somehow managed to stay erect.

Nick Sykes

"You'll pay for that!" He stared at me with utter hatred. "I doubt it." He replied solemly. Where was the cockiness I had heard so much about? This time, he charged me. I backed up towards the edge as he did Homing Attack after Homing Attack. My arms were managing to block them for now, but I don't know how long I can hold him off. Finally, with my feet at the very edge of the boat, one got through.

"Aaargh! I cried as one connected with my face. I threw my arms up to protect me but then he curled up into a ball and knocked my feet out from under me. I gasped in alarm as my feet slipped off the boat and began to fall. Luckily, my middle arms grabbed the edge leaving my top arms above me. Sonic ran at me and I threw my top arms at him but he managed to catch them with each of his hands.

I knew then I was at his mercy. One kick in the face and I would be done. He raised his foot over my face and I braced myself, but something seemed to hold him back. I looked at his face and he looked at me. He seemed to be having some kind of inner conflict with himself. Then suddenly we were interrupted.

"Self destruct sequence has been activated. 5:00 until the self destruction," the computer announced. "What? I never gave that order!" I cried. Sonic looked shocked as well.

"Oh no! Not here! Not now!" he moaned. He glared at me for a second. "The self destruct will take care of you. I've got bigger fish to fry." And he let my arms go and started to turn around.

"No fish is bigger than me!" I cried maniacally and swiped at him with my arms. He back-flipped over the attack and spun around and kicked me in the face in frustration. I could only wonder what had happened as I flew overboard!

I fell down into the ocean. My suit started to leak as I got deeper. I was too heavy to be able to swim with all my metal gear on. And there was no way I could get this thing off without my robots to help me. This was definitely my final hour.

I saw a fish. It was a pretty fish. I marveled at its beauty. Maybe, there was more to life than what I had thought, I wondered as I stared at the brilliant display of colors. But the fish never saw the shark as it glided in and ate it on the spot. I found that very hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing. I died with a grin on my face.

Eggman

After I was done installing the Emerald I walked over to the Master Emerald's resting place not too far away from Goliath.

I pointed to the Master Emerald, which was on a table inside a glass case. "You want it?" I asked Knuckles. Who had been hiding up on the ceiling all along. I smirked at my brilliance.

Sonic

I ran as fast as I could toward the cargo hold. If I didn't find the Chaos Emerald before Metal Shadow, I would be toast. After fighting my way through the ship, I found the cargo hold.

I found Metal Shadow standing with the Emerald in his hands. "Where do you think you're going with that emerald?" I said with a little of my cockiness back in my voice. Ironically, I had said those same words the first time I met Shadow; who had been carrying the same green Emerald he held in his hands at this very moment. "Ready for Round Two?" I taunted. Although I really didn't think I could beat this guy with my injuries from Sykes and with three minutes on the clock.

Knuckles

I couldn't hide my surprise. Eggman had spotted me! Nothing left to do then, I thought. I leapt from my hiding spot and quickly glided towards him, ignoring the pain I felt from my previous battle. But I had never really saw the laser gun he had been hiding behind his coat all along. He aimed and fired.

Sonic

Once again, I found myself fighting Metal Shadow, and once again, he had the advantage. I don't like fighting in cramped spaces, I knew that I couldn't do any damage with his shield up, and I was injured. But I charged nonetheless. I didn't want him warping away.  
I bounced off as I expected. I looked up in despair, surely he would've already started the Chaos Control technique. But he hadn't. He merely pointed his missile-loaded fingers at me and fired.

I leaped out of the way only to realize I hadn't been the target. He had shot the room behind us. The result left so much debris that it would take hours to dig through. I only had about two and a half minutes.

I looked up. It was do or die now.

I charged, he punched, I blocked. He kicked me in the face and I fell back. I looked up only to see him disappear in a green light. "Two minutes until the self destruction of the ship." I sighed. So this was the end. I had wasted too much time fighting robots in my fury.

"I only hope Knuckles is doing better than me." I muttered to no one.

Knuckles

"Arrgggh!" I screamed in pain as the searing heat of the laser hit my shoulder. I landed on my back. Eggman stood over me and aimed his pistol at my face. "There will be no more trouble from you." He said as he tightened the trigger.

This is Master Tananh. I'm rather proud of that little cliffhanger. Must be my best one yet. Who will stop Eggman now that Rouge is dead and Knuckles and Sonic are doomed? Can Tails do it on his own? And are any of them even dead? Find out next time. And please keep in mind that Sykes was only put in the story to give Sonic someone to fight, so don't give me any crap about how I should've tried to plug him into the main plot please. Now please review and tell me how awesome it is. 


	6. Impossible Rescue

This is Master Tananh. Things aren't looking good for Sonic and Knuckles. But maybe one or both of them might make it. (hence the name of the chapter) Read on.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Chapter 6: Impossible Rescue

Tails

I sighed. I had been forced to stay on the sidelines in yet another adventure. Frustrated, I decided to take a little walk. But while I was walking, my walkie-talkie went off. "Arrgggh!" My eyes went wide. That was Knuckles! I was about to ask him what had happened when I heard Eggman's voice. "There will be no more trouble from you." I had to get to the Tornado! I would charge the base if I had too!

Knuckles

I opened my eyes. Was I dead? No. Eggman was still standing over me. He looked thoughtful. "What, aren't you going to kill me?" I asked. "Hmm. No, not today." I relaxed a little. My hands unclenched. At least one of them did. I looked at the other. It was still holding the walkie-talkie! I must have pressed it when I was shot! Tails was probably on his way already!

Eggman looked at my walkie-talkie. Then, to my surprise, he smiled. "Tails, I assume?" I didn't answer. Chuckling, he pulled out a something that looked like a remote control. It had about twenty-five buttons on it. "This controls all the land mines surrounding my base," he explained. "Your friend landed right on top of one."

"NOOOOO!" I screamed as he pushed the button.

?

I was in the control room. Frantically, I tried to reverse the self-destruct order. "Please enter password, and scan your retina." Some bad words were running through my head right then. Sonic must be in the room where the Chaos Emerald is. I saw him in the room via security camera, but he was just sitting there! What was he doing?

I moved the camera a little. I gasped. There was all kinds of debris blocking the exit!

"Ninety seconds until self-destruction of the ship."

It was up to me.

Tails

BOOM!

I was sent flying backwards from the force of the explosion. I looked up and saw my precious Tornado. It must've been in a hundred pieces. If I hadn't taken a walk... No! I mustn't think about it. Eggman had said he wouldn't kill Knuckles. He was most likely in the prison area. If I remembered correctly, the blueprints showed that the prison was in the West Wing. I flew toward it.

Knuckles

I threw the walkie-talkie at Eggman's face and punched him in rage. He must not have expected this because he didn't blow my head off. Eggman went flying. I got up and charged him. I punched and punched and punched while Eggman screamed in pain.

Suddenly, something grabbed my arm and threw me toward the ground. Metal Shadow had arrived.  
  
"One minute until self-destruction of the ship."

I rummaged through the bomb cache. All of them were too strong! I just decided to pick one. It was a small one. Carefully, I opened it up. After about twenty seconds I had removed enough plutonium to safely use on the debris outside Sonic's room. I started running. _Come on Rouge old girl. _I thought to myself,_ Go!  
_  
"Thirty seconds until self-destruction of the ship."

Sonic

I sat, waiting for my death to come. In less then thirty seconds, it would all be over.

BOOM!

For one wild second I thought the ship had blown up early, but then I saw Rouge standing by the exit. She had blown apart the debris! But she was dead, how could she... "Are you going to jut sit there or come with me?" she asked impatiently. I just got up and ran with her.

"Ten"

We ran as fast as possible.

"Nine"

"Eight"

I passed Rouge.

"Seven"

"Six"  
"Five"

We were outside! I would make it, but Rouge would not.

"Four"

I jumped off, hating myself for leaving her.

"Three"

"Two"

I saw Rouge jump off the boat while I was falling.

"One"

I hit the water, and I heard a deafening noise from above and the explosion pushed me a considerable ways away from the ship. "NOOOO!" I screamed under the water. The fire had surely engulfed her.

I swam frantically up to the surface. I'm not a good swimmer, but I managed to grab a floating piece of the ship and climb on. Once again, I had passed up a friend and watched them die. First Shadow, and then Rouge. What was wrong with me? What kind of person just passes their friends and leaves them to die. Then I saw something impossible.

I saw her swimming towards me. I gaped at her, unable to believe what I was seeing. How many lives did this girl have? She reached the area where I was and climbed on the floating piece of the boat I was sitting on. "How ya doin?" she asked carelessly.

"How the heck did you survive?" She looked at me. "The time with the jet or just now?" She asked me.

I paused for a second. "Both" I replied. She shrugged.

"Well, the first time, after I ejected you, I pulled out a pistol and shot out the glass covering my cockpit. After struggling with my seatbelt, I jumped out, just in time. Unfortunately, the force of the explosion sent me spinning out of control until I landed. On my head." "Ouch," I commented. "Yeah," Rouge answered, "I was out cold until I was woken up by the self-destruct warning. I saw you running towards the Emerald area, so I ran to the control ship to find a way to deactivate the order, but it was locked by a password and retina scan."

"Wait a minute, how could Metal Shadow have gotten through that?" I wondered aloud. "Metal Shadow did all this?" Rouge asked. I nodded.

"I figured it might have been him. Maybe his eye visors have a way of changing shape to get past some security doors." "Man, Eggman didn't leave anything put on this guy did he?" I commented. Ignoring me, Rouge continued, "Well, anyway, After I failed I saw you trapped in that room. So I decided to find a bomb, and bust you out. So I did. You know the rest."

"Not quite. How'd you survive just now?" I asked. "Well, instead of just jumping down and letting me get consumed in the flames, I glided off the edge. I glided as far as I could, and I barely made it." She pointed at her slightly burnt shoes. "Any more questions?" She asked.

"Yeah, how the heck are we going to get out of here?" I asked. Then, as if to answer, a helicopter landed right next to us. (It was one of those deals where they could land on top of the water.) The door opened and the pilot looked at us. "I was sent to investigate an explosion around here."

Me and Rouge exchanged a mischievous grin.

We hopped in the helicopter, and threw the pilot out. "Sorry." Rouge said as we took off. She looked at me. "Where we going?" she asked. I grinned, "Eggman's base. Now!"

Metal Shadow

I punched again and again. This echidna had gone too far. He had tried to destroy my master. "All right! Stop! He's had enough." My master ordered. Obediently, I stopped. The echidna was in bad shape. He could barely move for all the injuries that I had given him. "You wouldn't want to hurt your future cousin now would you?" My master asked me.

Knuckles

"What did you say?' I asked groggily. Eggman laughed. "You don't think I'd destroy a perfect specimen like you now would I?" I tried to sort out what he said but it just made my head hurt. "I think a Metal Knuckles would do nicely, don't you?" "No!" I tried to get up, but I couldn't! I needed time to recover. "Please don't! Just kill me! You have all the Chaos Emeralds now! You have no reason to have another robot.!"

"Oh, your wrong, I have every need for more soldiers. You see, I have been busy with other things as well. I have been building a great army! After Goliath destroys all the major cities, my army will come in and enslave the rest of humanity! I will need some more advanced robots as lieutenants won't I?" Eggman looked at Metal Shadow. "Take him to the prison area and strap him onto the bed! The robo-doctor will be there soon to patch up his wounds. He smiled nastily. "He'll also be giving you some nice armor. Wouldn't want you getting hurt again would we?" I tried to protest, but I was in too much pain.

"Don't leave him for any reason until he is put to sleep." Metal Sonic nodded, and started dragging me away.

Eggman  
WARNING! ENEMY AIRCRAFT APPROACHING! SEND ANTI AIR EQUIPMENT NOW!

"Eh?" I asked. Had the military finally made a move? I checked the outside camera. It showed a fox heading for the prison ward. I nearly laughed. For a second I though it was a threat. I gave the order to launch the anti-air equipment and ran toward the docking bay for my personal attack ship. Just in case.

Tails

I was pretty close to the ward when the alarm went off. Suddenly, hundreds of missiles were launched at me! "Oh, man." I groaned as I prepared to dodge. The first missile reached me and I dodged. Suddenly the air was filled with missiles! And with reflexes learned from the fastest hedgehog in the world, I dodged all of them. _If only Sonic could see me now_. I thought happily as I practically danced around the missiles.

Eventually, they stopped launching. Must've ran out of ammo. Then I looked ahead and saw a whole new problem. Eggman.

"Ahahaha!" laughed Eggman in his bizarre machine, "do you like it? I call it the Egg Top."

As strange as it was that Eggman had called his machine this, I could see why he had. At the top of the machine was Eggman in the cockpit. In the middle, were eight arm things sticking out of the machine with a gun at the end of each. Then at the bottom was a hover device that kept the ship airborne.

Eggman pushed a button, and the arms started spinning rapidly until they were just a blur, then he pressed another button. "Whoa!" I shouted in surprise as lasers went flying around my head. They were everywhere! The spinning arms were now firing rapidly, causing lasers to go all over the place. Luckily for me, the shots were random and I could dodge them pretty well. I headed for the cockpit, weaving in and out of the laser fire. Then I curled into a ball and hit him.

"Arrrgghhhh!" Eggman shouted in surprise and fury as I scored a shot in. He backed up and this time, Eggman pushed another button. The spinning arms then started to move up and down while they spun, making it even harder for me to dodge. After a little while, I managed to get closer and score another hit.

Eggman backed up and was looking at me with a look of utmost loathing. I smirked and charged again, but as soon as I got close enough, Eggman pulled out a hand-held gun and shot at me! I pulled back just in time. Eggman laughed like a maniac. Determined as ever, I flew towards him again. When I got close again, Eggman aimed, but I swerved to the left and kicked hard. "Noooo!" Eggman shouted. I nailed the cockpit again and backed off as an arm nearly smashed me. I had kicked his pistol out of his hand just in time.

"It appears that I have underestimated you, fox boy!" Eggman taunted, "Metal Shadow will take care of you!" He turned around and flew away. Oh no you don't! I thought. I chased after him. "Eh?" Eggman said when he saw me, "So you want to follow me, eh? Good luck!" He pushed another button and the arms all moved until they were pointing behind Eggman and at me. They started firing again. Except this time they weren't spinning, they were all pointing at me. Going as fast as I could without getting blasted, I followed.

Metal Shadow

I stood guard by the echidna's cell. He wasn't doing much. He just shot a lot of nasty looks at me. Suddenly, I received a transmission from my Master. "Metal Shadow, get over here! I'm having trouble with a fox! I shook my head and replayed his voice to him: "Don't leave him for any reason until he is put to sleep."

My Master wasn't pleased.

"Cancel that stupid order and get over here right now!" My Master ordered. So I left, following my Master's tracking signal.

Tails

I was gaining slowly. Then, after several minutes of circling around the base I made it! I was above Eggman's cockpit. One Homing Attack was all it took. The Egg Top started exploding, but, like always, Eggman pushed a button and ejected out of the mess. Eggman looked down at his exploding creation descending down. "Well, well, well. You are full of surprised aren't you?" I didn't like his cocky tone. "I hope you don't mind, but I invited a guest." He pointed toward the West Wing. There was Metal Shadow flying straight for me. Eggman flew away, laughing maniacally.

I remembered what had happened last time I fought this guy, and I wasn't eager to repeat that incident. Especially now that Knuckles wouldn't be there to catch me. So I just flew straight for him.

Metal Shadow

I was flying toward the deformed fox, and he was flying toward me. I powered up my eye beam and fired. But just before the beam hit him, he dived down under me. I looked down to find him heading toward the prisoners ward. I gave chase. I fired rockets and lasers from my hands and eyes. None of them connected. He was too far ahead.

Tails

I dodged as another rocket flew harmlessly past. I dived down and followed the rocket. It exploded on the West Wing, leaving a small hole. I flew in.

I looked around. Where's Knuckles? I started running past the rows of empty cells until I saw him. The door was opened and he was strapped onto a bed. There was a robot inside that looked like he was about to give him a shot. Whatever was in that shot, I definitely didn't want him to take it. I ran faster, with an awareness of Metal Shadow had entered the building.

I ran in the cell and kicked the robot's head off. "Tails?" Knuckles wondered aloud. "I thought you were dead." I looked at him. He was in pretty bad shape. "Not yet." I replied grimly as I started to rip the bindings off of him. He was free. Then I turned around and saw something that made me lose all hope. Metal Shadow was standing in the doorway.

Rouge

I hacked into Eggman's files in the control room. "Metal Shadow, Metal Shadow, Aha! Here he is!" I looked at the design of Shadow's robotic suit. "Wow." I said to myself. This was the most hi-tech thing I'd ever seen! "Hmm. There's gotta be a way to turn off that shield."

Metal Shadow

I had trapped the fox and the echidna. They were doomed. I prepared to finish them when...

BAM!

Something hit me from behind! It had bounced off of course, but what could have done that? I turned around to find that blue hedgehog in a fighting stance. "Come and get some!" He taunted.

Sonic

I looked at Metal Shadow. This wasn't looking good. I was in a hallway with no room to jump or dodge. He walked towards me. "Get out of here guys!" I shouted towards Tails and Knuckles. No sooner were they out the door when Rouge came running towards me. She saw Metal Shadow and held back. Then something else happened.

"Metal Shadow! Stop whatever your doing and go down to Goliath's chamber! I am about to take off." Said Eggman through Metal Shadow's built-in walkie-talkie. "When you get there, guard that Master Emerald!" Metal Shadow nodded obediently and took off. I followed but he ignored me. I chased him all the way to an elevator. The doors closed before I could get in.

"Wait!" Rouge called. She ran up to me, panting. "Use these." She showed me some grenades. "Right." We backed up, and I threw the grenade at the elevator doors.

BOOM!

I jogged up to the hole. "Hey Sonic!" Rouge said. "What now?" I asked impatiently. "I was looking at Metal Shadow's files and I found out how to disable his shield." she said, "When he tries to do his ultimate attack, kick him in the stomach, that should make it malfunction." I nodded. "What would I do without you? Take Tails and Knuckles to the helicopter and wait for me. With any luck I should be able to show up with the Master Emerald and Shadow." Rouge agreed and ran back.

And without a backward glance, I jumped through the hole and slid down the elevator cables. I landed on the descending elevator after a few seconds of sliding. I was amazed that it hadn't stopped yet. We must be way far down. When it finally stopped, I did a Homing Attack on the elevator ceiling, which destroyed it. I landed on the elevator floor and ran through the open doors. Metal Shadow was all ready in the room ahead. I ran after him.  
Inside was the largest room I'd ever been in. And in the far side of it was the biggest machine I'd ever seen, with the exception of the ARK. And it was taking off. I watched, unable to do anything as enormous jets on it's feet. The ceiling above opened and it took off. I noted it was going pretty slow. Then we were alone. Just me and Metal Shadow.

Rouge

We were all in the helicopter waiting. Then we saw it take off. The ground was opening. Then a huge machine came flying out. And if it kept going in that direction...

Tails said it first.

"It's heading for Station Square!"

This is Master Tananh. Next chapter is the long awaited final battle between Sonic and Metal Shadow. Will Sonic be able to defeat him? And if he does, what about Goliath? Things are about to heat up so stay tuned. Please review and tell me how awesome it is. 


	7. Sonic vs Metal Shadow

This is Master Tananh. This is the episode you've all been waiting for. The final battle. Sonic vs. Metal Shadow! Will Sonic be able to free Shadow and find the Master Emerald? This is my ultimate fighting chapter. I think I've outdone myself really. Read on. 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Chapter 7: Sonic vs Metal Shadow

Sonic

Metal Shadow was all ready in the room ahead. I ran after him. Inside was the largest room I'd ever been in! And in the far side of it was the biggest machine I'd ever seen, with the exception of the ARK. And it was taking off! I watched, unable to do anything as enormous jets on it's feet started revving up. The ceiling above opened and it took off. I noted it was going pretty slow. Then we were alone. Just me and Metal Shadow.

I looked at Metal Shadow. I didn't say anything. There was nothing to say. We just started fighting. I had no excuses this time. I had plenty of room to maneuver, and there was no self destruct mechanism about to go off. It was just me and him.

It was Metal Shadow who threw the first punch. He curled up into a ball and started rolling right for me! I jumped over him and turned around to see him come at me again. He was just zooming all over the place. I dodged this for about two minutes, but as I leapt over him just before I had time to land and duck and watch as Shadow Ball sped right where the back of my head used to be, I decided to retaliate.

So I curled up myself and started racing around with him. We sped all over the floor. If their had been anyone watching we probably would have just looked like blue and silver blurs racing around the floor. I kept going faster and faster the longer I was in the ball. It felt like I was about to break the sound barrier when we collided into each other headfirst.

We both flew backwards and uncurled involuntarily as we landed on the floor. It felt like somebody had knocked me over the head with a sledgehammer. I could barely walk, such was the intensity of the blow. I looked at Metal Shadow and realized he was dented around the left side of his back. The shield must not be meant for attacks at that speed. But I definitely got the worse end of the collision.

Unfortunately, I couldn't just scream "Time out!" and sit down and rest. Metal Shadow ran towards me, obviously not held back by the damage I had inflicted on him, and leapt and performed a Homing Attack. I sprang sideways just in time to keep myself from getting bashed in the head. But I forgot about the minor detail that you can do another Homing Attack right after you get done with the first one after you land.

He smashed right into my face.

It hurt. A lot.  
"Arrrrgh!" I screamed right before he plowed into me again. This time it was in the stomach. I was going to lose if I kept this up. With all of the wind knocked out of me and with what felt like a broken face, I got up and leapt out of the way of another Homing Attack from Metal Shadow. After making a mental note to make some "Get Well" cards to everybody I had Homing Attacked recently, I performed one myself. Although I bounced off of his shield, I figured he would have to use his Ultimate Attack eventually. So I kept trying to hit him while he did the same to me.

Metal Shadow

I had to hand it to this blue hedgehog, he was much harder to defeat compared to the other times we had fought. He was not at a disadvantage this time, but even despite that he seemed to be different then before. But then I shook off the thought. It didn't matter how good he was, he was NOT getting the Emerald. My Master had ordered me to protect it and I would die to follow his orders.

I looked at the hedgehog. He aimed another one of his attacks at me and it bounced off of my shield. I noticed that for every attack I had, he had a similar one like it. My design must be based on this creature. He seemed to be begging me to use my Ultimate Attack. But I knew his plan. He wanted to hit me while I charged up. But the Ultimate Attack seemed to be the only thing that would do the job effectively.

_Not yet._ I told myself. I will have to try something else. Up till now, I had only been aiming to injure. My master seemed to think of me as a killing machine, but I preferred not to kill if I could get out of it. Whenever he ordered me to kill someone I would do it of course, but when it was up to me I preferred to just put them out of commission. But this hedgehog seemed to be more than meets the eye. I had no choice. I would have to use lethal force.

Sonic

I performed another Homing Attack and bounced off again. I tensed up, expecting to see Metal Shadow flying at me, but he wasn't. He seemed to be looking me over. Finally, something happened. And it didn't make me happy. Not at all.

Metal Shadow's back, which used to have a bunch of quills laid back in the usual Shadow style, had changed. The hair wasn't laid back anymore, it was standing up, and it looked really sharp. I had a sudden image of me getting nailed in the face with one of his Homing Attacks with the super sharp hair on it. That would mean an instant grisly death.

He executed his Homing Attack and nearly hit me, I jumped sideways just in time. I turned, but instead of Metal Shadow landing and doing another Homing Attack again like he usually did, he turned around in mid-air and activated his jet shoes, causing him to fly back at me. He punched me right in my already damaged face with his big metal fist. I flew back but somersaulted back to my feet just in time to back-flip out of the way of a rocket that Metal Shadow had launched at the spot where I would have been laying.

Flying around he suddenly unleashed a torrent of attacks on me. Rockets from his fingers and lasers from his eyes were flying all over the place. He would swoop down and try to nail me with a Homing Attack every once in a while. He also launched little energy balls at me from his hands that were very similar to the ones used in his Ultimate Attack, only these were slower and not as powerful.

He did this for about ten minutes until finally one of the energy balls nailed me in the shoulder. "Ahhh!" I shouted. It actually didn't really hurt, but now I could no longer use my arm. Somehow I managed to retain my footing and so I kept from falling down. So I managed to dodge a laser he had also tried to hit me with. I looked at my paralyzed arm, it just hung limp. This was not looking good.

Metal Shadow must have thought my limp arm would distract me, because now he was cupping his hands hurriedly. "Oh no you don't!" I cried. I ran toward him. His shield lowered, and he was mine. Taking Rouge's advice, I drop-kicked him right in the stomach. "Yes!" I cried in jubilation as I heard something in Metal Shadow's metal plating snap while he flew back from my kick.

Metal Shadow

SHIELD GENERATOR HAS MALFUNCTIONED

HOMING ATTACK HAS MALFUNCTIONED

SHADOW BALL ATTACK HAS MALFUNCTIONED

HAND ENERGY ATTACK HAS MALFUNCTIONED

ULTIMATE ATTACK HAS MALFUNCTIONED

EYE LASER HAS MALFUNCTIONED

My visor was screaming reports of the damage that the hedgehog had dealt to me. I could hardly believe it. I got up to see his triumphant face looking at me. Once again though, the side-effect of the Ultimate Attack surprised me as well. I knew this hedgehog! The voice that always came on in my head when I used the Attack identified him as "Sonic". The voice seemed to think that he had fought this "Sonic" before. Well this "Sonic" was starting to be annoying. Judging by the triumphant look on his face he thinks he has the advantage now. But my sensors showed that his endurance level has decreased by 73 and he could not use his left arm.

But I didn't feel encouraged. How did he know that was where my Plasma Generator was? It should have been impossible to find out. Of all the places he could have hit me he hit me where it hurt the most. Without the Plasma Generator I couldn't use my shield, lasers, or hand energies. And in damaging my stomach he made sure I could no longer roll in a ball.

Nevertheless, I should hit him hard now, before he manages to recover. It is time to end this.

Sonic

I barely saw him coming. All I knew was that one second he was just standing there, looking shocked, then the next he was charging at me. I guess I figured that when I knocked out his shield I could just stroll up to him and beat him up. But now I know that this battle is far from over.  
I took punch after punch as he beat me to a pulp. I let out a cry of pain as he kicked me in the face, causing me to fly backwards and land on my stomach. I couldn't believe myself. I was just letting him kill me! He ran towards me and leaped. When he was right above me, he faced downwards and activated his jet shoes, causing him to fall towards me at a very high speed. I knew that if he hit me, it would be over.

Swiftly, I raised my feet up and kicked Metal Shadow in the face while he was still in midair. Then I got up quickly before he could recover. I felt a sudden pain in my side. I had moved to fast. He had wore me down a lot. I could barely even move, and my arm was still paralyzed. This wasn't looking good for me.

It looked like all the flashy moves were done with. This was going to be an all out brawl now. And in my weakened condition, there is no way I'm going to last against him much longer. I was hurting him, but I wasn't feeling to hot either. I thought about how Metal Shadow would probably hit me next. I winced just thinking about it. Nevertheless, I couldn't give up. I raised my fists up and said, "Want some more bolt brain?"

Then I looked at my fists. Fists. Plural. As in more than one fist raised up.

I stared in wonder at my left arm. The paralyzation had worn off! I grinned. At least now I could move all my limbs. I ran at Metal Shadow at top speed. Right before we got close enough I jumped and did a Homing Attack. Unfortunately, Metal Shadow backflipped out of the way and right when I landed, he threw a punch. I ducked under the blow and sweeped my feet across the floor trying to trip him. But Metal Shadow jumped over my feet and kicked me in the face. But right before he kicked, he activated his jet boots. This caused my face to feel a very unpleasant burning sensation on impact.

"Aaaauugh!" I screamed. As I flew back from the blow, I grabbed wildly. Luckily, I managed to grab his outstretched foot. I flew back from the blow with Metal Shadow's foot in my hand, and I flung Metal Shadow towards the wall. I heard a crash that must have meant he had hit the wall. I landed with an "Oof!" and got up to continue the battle. But what I saw made me almost laugh aloud because of my luck.

Metal Shadow was stuck to the wall. Throughout our melee he had kept his back pointy. When I had flung him into the wall the pointy quills had made him get stuck. He was attached to the wall by his quills and was hanging upside down.

I ran at him and leaped, curling up for a Homing Attack.

Metal Shadow

I took another hit from the hedgehog. He had already hit me five times while I was suspended on the wall. I could no longer take this. I had no choice. I pressed my hands against the wall and pushed as hard as I could. I heard some cracking and I knew it was working.

With a crash I fell out of the wall and landed back on the ground. I got up and looked behind me. I saw my inner layer. I knew that I was just a robot taking control over another creature's body, but it was still strange to see it. Then I realized something. While all my outer layer was showing signs of extreme damage, my inner was working perfectly! Now, finally, my victory is assured.

"Destroy all of the outer layer with the exception of the cranium area." I ordered with my thoughts to my body.

Sonic

I raised my eyebrows. He had pushed himself out of the wall, but he had sacrificed the machine armor on his back. He must be close to being beaten by now! "Almost over." I said to myself. But then Metal Shadow, who always seemed to be one step ahead of me, pulled off another way to tip the odds in his favor.

He just exploded. No warning, no nothing. One minute he was standing there, next he exploded. For one horrifying moment I thought he had self-destructed and taken Shadow's life with his own. The next I thought that I had been victorious. For Shadow's red and black body was appearing out of the smoke. But there was something different. Metal Shadow's head was still attached.

I just wanted to cry out of exasperation. Here I was, Sonic, the good guy, just about ready to win against Metal Shadow, the bad guy, just like I always used to and always should. But now Metal Shadow was just about completely healthy again while I was so tired I just wanted to lay down and die.

The head must have been all he needed to retain control of Shadow's body. On the plus side, he could no longer hurt me with any of his weapons like before. It would be just like the other times me and Shadow fought before all this mess. But I didn't know if I could beat him with all of my present injuries.

Suddenly, Metal Shadow charged me and performed a Homing Attack that hit me right in the head. I fell, and on trying to get up, Metal Shadow kicked me as hard as he could, making me fly across the room. I got up very slowly. Every part of my body hurt, but I moved anyway, willing my body to get up. I couldn't let it end like this. Not when I was so close...

BAM!!!

Metal Shadow had suddenly drop-kicked me in the face. Before I hit the ground, he regained his footing and uppercutted my falling form. Then I was done. I knew I could no longer continue the fight. When I finally landed on my stomach Metal shadow picked me up by the neck and glared at me with those cruel eyes. I didn't even have the strength to glare back. Metal Shadow then punched me as hard as he could with his free hand and I flew away from his grip and landed on the floor.

"Urrgh." I mumbled. I saw Metal Shadow's towering form. _This is it. _I thought in horror. _The games up Sonic, you lose_. "Nnn, nno!" I cried out. _You've failed everyone. He's going to finish you off now and that will be the end of the world as everyone knows it. And it's all your fault. _"No!" I screamed, "Can't-give-up!" I tried to get up, but every muscle in my body instantly started screaming with pain. "Aarrgh! No! Can't give up! You have to get up! You have to beat him!" I continued to coach myself all the way. With every muscle burning, I started to get up while all the time muttering "Can't give up can't give up can't give up..." When finally, I had made it. I was standing.  
He looked around. Where was Metal Shadow? Then I saw him. He was standing guard in front of the Master Emerald. Why hadn't he attacked while I was getting up? He must have thought I had died. Well, it's time to show him that I am still very alive. "Hey bucket head," I taunted, "Don't you want some more?" I charged, ignoring the intense pain all along the way.

Metal Shadow

I couldn't believe it. My sensors showed his endurance level was at - 4! But there he was, charging at me as fast as ever. This was impossible! There was no way he could-

POW!

He had punched me right in the stomach he almost proceeded to punch me in my face but I caught his hand. He brought his other hand up and tried the same, but I caught it as well. Then the hedgehog jumped, and using my grip on his hands to get high enough, kicked me with both of his feet into both of my visors.

I threw him away from me. My visors were broken! I couldn't see. Where is he? Where is he?

Sonic

Getting up, I saw that the battle was over. Metal Shadow could no longer see. His visors had shattered under my kick. Grinning despite my pain, I ran at him and punched his face five times with all of my strength and then, somehow knowing this was the final blow, I jumped and kicked as hard as I could.

"Yes!" I cried jubilantly as I let myself fall to the ground. I looked over and saw the armor blow off. Shadow fell to the ground. He looked around in shock. I could only imagine what was going through his confused head. Shadow got up looking around him. Then he saw me and walked over to my tired laying body. "Somehow I knew you were involved in this. What is going on?" he demanded in his usual cold tone. I grinned. Shadow was free.

This is Master Tananh. So, Shadow's free, but now what? Goliath has undoubtedly gotten much closer to Station Square by now. Can Sonic and crew catch up with Eggman and his ultimate robot? Stay tuned. Please review and tell me how awesome it was. 


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